


Me & You Together Song

by cobblestaubrey



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, High School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23300524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cobblestaubrey/pseuds/cobblestaubrey
Summary: "Stacie sighed. 'I just think she’s hot and smart, okay? And I’m hot and smart, too, so maybe we could be hot and smart together and take over the world or something.''We’re seventeen. You have plenty of time to find a girl who digs the whole ‘mad scientist’ thing and wants to run away with you to a lab in the woods.' Beca watched as Stacie’s eyes glossed over at the thought. She nudged the taller girl, continuing on. 'A girl who will notice you without you having to put that brain at risk by playing football.''Okay, I guess it was a pipe dream. I would’ve looked so good in that letterman, though.'"Stacie wants Aubrey's attention. Beca could definitely care less about Chloe's.
Relationships: Ashley Jones/Jessica Smith, Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell, Cynthia-Rose Adams/Denise, Stacie Conrad/Aubrey Posen
Comments: 14
Kudos: 91





	1. i had a dream where we had kids, you would cook, i'd do the nappies

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I don't know what I want this story to be, but here's a chapter! It's un-beta-ed, so any mistakes are mine!
> 
> Title is from the 1975 song of the same name. Good song. Good band.

“Stacie, I’m five-two, I can't throw a football, and this plan is directly ripped from four different coming-of-age teen-romance movies.”

“Beca, you’re five- _t_ _hree_ , you played flag football for four years, and who _cares?”_

Beca could not actually believe what her best friend was suggesting. Not only were they going to put aside their ever-growing disdain for the football team, but Stacie was suggesting that they should _join_ the team _._ On _purpose!_

“I know, it’s crazy, right, but think about it! I want to be known for more than my amazing legs and _other_ assets, and you should want to be known, like, at all!”

Beca groaned, having heard that quip a few more times than necessary over their first two years of high school. 

“I don’t really care about who knows me or not, Stacie, you know that. I just want to-

“‘Get out of this suffocating town and make some music in California’” Stacie mockingly finished for her, “yeah, I got it Beca. Can’t you just do this one thing for me?”

“This is not one thing, Stacie! This includes actually training the _whole summer_ to be ready for tryouts, having practices almost daily during the school year, and, I don’t know if you forgot, but speaking to boys that are more ape than human.”

“What else am I going to do to get Aubrey’s attention?”

“ _What?”_

Stacie rolled her eyes, throwing herself onto Beca’s bed. “Why else would I come up with this stupid plan if I wasn’t going to benefit immensely from it.”

“Wait, so the whole ‘receiving attention for more than my legs’ was _not_ the ‘immense benefits’?”

“Uh, no, duh. That’s like third behind the bicep muscles and Aubrey’s attention.”

“When were we getting bicep muscles?”

“During our summer training, Beca, were you not listening?”

“ _I_ was the one that brought up the summer training-”

Stacie sighed loudly. “We’re running in circles. Which does not count as exercise.”

Beca only stared at her friend. 

“Chloe’s a cheerleader, you know. She’d be at every game.”

“Oh my god, I’m not risking a concussion to impress Chloe Beale.”

“That was honestly just my last ditch attempt.”

“Why would impressing Aubrey be at the top of your list, but impressing Chloe wouldn’t be at the top of mine?”

“I don’t know, I thought maybe you’d be more into the bicep part.”

“Why would I give a shit about my biceps?”

Stacie furrowed her eyebrows. “Better to turn turntables with?”

“I don’t even own turntables, yet!”

“Maybe your mom will buy you some if you win the championship game.”

“ _We’re not playing football!”_

Stacie raises her hands in mock defense. “Fine, fine, I give up. Any better ideas?”

Beca shrugged. “Why does it matter? If they wanted to talk to us, they would.”

“You clearly don’t get the whole high school thing, Beca,” Stacie shook her head, “we run in completely different social circles. I have three APs with Aubrey, and she still doesn’t give me the time of day when she’s around _them._ ”

“Luke and Jessica aren’t bad, they’re just-”

“Blonde and perfect.” muttered Stacie. “I could be blonde, you know. My mom says my highlights suit me well in the summer.”

“Okay but then you’d just _look_ like Aubrey, which is probably not what you’re going for.”

“Is having sex with a clone incest or masturbation?”

“ _And_ we’re done here.”

Stacie sighed. “I just think she’s hot and smart, okay? And I’m hot and smart, too, so maybe we could be hot and smart together and take over the world or something.”

“We’re seventeen. You have plenty of time to find a girl who digs the whole ‘mad scientist’ thing and wants to run away with you to a lab in the woods.” Beca watched as Stacie’s eyes glossed over at the thought. She nudged the taller girl, continuing on. “A girl who will notice you _without_ you having to put that brain at risk by playing football.”

“Okay, I guess it was a pipe dream. I would’ve looked _so_ good in that letterman, though.”

Beca smirked. “I don’t doubt it, but the chess team _and_ the mathletes get lettermen, too.”

Stacie’s head whipped around. “Seriously?”

“Dixie-chick.”

Beca’s arm had to have seen that coming. 

“Ow, dude!”

“Don’t mock her. Chloe sings in the hallway.”

“Touché.”

“The mathletes it is, then.”

“That was a joke, Stacie. We’re not joining the mathletes. Why don’t we just, I don’t know, audition for acapella? You know, the group they’re _in. Together._ The group where everyone has to work. _Together_.” Beca could see the cogs turning in Stacie’s head, until the taller brunette slapped her palm against her face. 

“Some solutions are hard to see in plain sight.”

“I should be embarrassed for you, but I’m more embarrassed that I willingly suggested we should join acapella, let alone join for two girls.”

Stacie grinned and hugged her friend tight, hearing the shorter girl groan. “You won’t regret this Beca! By this time next year, I won’t be the only girl in your bed!”

Beca grimaced. 

“Oh come on, you know I didn’t mean it like that. Also, fuck you, I’d probably be awesome in bed.”

Beca rolled her eyes, shoving her friend off the bed and laying down. 

Stacie landed with a thump, looking up at Beca, scandalized. 

“What the Hell? Have you been training without me?”

* * *

After spending their summer doing Stacie’s favorite activities, which were shopping for clothes at the mall and building makeshift rockets in the backyard, and Beca’s favorite activity, which was doing nothing, the pair felt as though they were ready to take on their school year as upperclassmen. 

Sure, they had spent some of the summer with their other friends. They weren’t complete loners, most of the time. Cynthia-Rose came by ever so often to jam with them when her mom let her lug her keyboard over, and Ashley always invited them to her All-Star softball games. Sure, she was also always embarrassed by how Beca got so into it, but the cheering never failed to give her the confidence to hit a triple far into left field. 

Fat Amy was by far the best part of the summer, having spent most of it in Tasmania. When she arrived back, she called up more than half of Barden High and threw a sweet party in that huge house of hers. Beca and Stacie weren’t new to the party scene, but Fat Amy always made sure they were having fun, anyway. 

So, yeah, they had their wacky adventures and, yes, they were going to miss the days of no worry and the memories, but Beca was waking up at four pm every day and Stacie’s dad was refusing to pay for any more rockets, or any of the flowers those rockets destroyed in her mom’s garden. The routine of school was welcomed. 

Stacie was waiting for that movie-moment where she could walk through the front doors of the school with her hair flowing behind her, before making her way past the drooling faces before stopping at the one girl she could see. 

However, Stacie and Beca trudged through the side entrance near the parking lot, and almost no one was there.

Stacie was right about one thing, though, and that was (in comparison to usual) prolonged, physical contact with Aubrey Posen. 

In the worst way. 

“Shit, Stacie-”

“Ow!”

“Jesus Christ-”

Stacie looked up, concerned and embarrassed, before realizing -

“Of-fucking-course.”

Aubrey met her eyes, anger flashing through them, before Stacie realized she had said that out loud. 

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

Aubrey nodded once, curtly, her hand still holding where her head had collided with Stacie’s. 

“Uh, Stacie,” Beca whispered harshly into her ear, “great cliche you’ve got here, but you need to fix this before she hates your guts.”

Stacie looked back to Aubrey, who was less angry and more upset, and nodded. “You go to the caf, I’ll do damage control.”

“On it, star-command.” Beca saluted, making her way down the corridor. 

Stacie moved over slightly, awkwardly trying to remove Aubrey’s hands from her head without touching her. The brunette sighed, knowing there was no point now, and grabbed Aubrey’s hands and pulled them away. 

“Hey!”

“I’m checking the damages. You’re not bleeding and you’re angry enough to be in the right state of mind, so, I think you’re good.”

Aubrey looked at her warily. “I’d rather see a nurse, but thank you.”

Stacie shrugged. “I can bring you if you want. And, I’m sorry, also. I forgot that part.”

Aubrey gave a small smile, and then grimaced, rubbing her head again. “I could probably manage on my own.”

“But, I want to.” Stacie admitted, looking away when Aubrey turned to meet her eyes. “Uh, because I’m sorry. Again.”

“I’m glad to have your pity, Anastasia.”

Stacie’s head shot forward, narrowly avoiding another collision. “What did you call me?”

Aubrey visibly moved back, getting onto her knees to sit up. “Anastasia. That’s your name, isn’t it? Anastasia Conrad?”

Stacie gaped for a moment. “No, well, yes, but I go by Stacie.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “We’re in classes together, how do you not...” she trailed off, unsure where to go. 

Aubrey smirked. “I know you go by Stacie, I just prefer your real name a lot more.”

Stacie’s head was going haywire. She had never liked the sound of her name until Aubrey had said it in that stupid, smarmy voice, because _damn._

Stacie abruptly stood up, afraid of where else her thoughts could go if she didn’t get Aubrey to the nurse, _now._

“Yeah, um…” Stacie reached a hand towards Aubrey, who was already looking down to push herself back up. 

By the time the blonde had stood up, Stacie’s hand was still out, so she quickly threw it behind her head, rubbing the back of her neck. 

“Yeah I guess you can call me Anastasia. If that’s what you like.”

Aubrey looked up at her, nodded resolutely, and then turned around to walk towards the nurse. 

Stacie narrowed her gaze, walking (not so quickly, she did have the longer legs) to catch up. “Hey, wait, I’m supposed to be walking you!”

* * *

Stacie slumped down next to Beca in fourth period physics, glad that they at least shared one class. Becs was surely only glad she shared a science class with Stacie. 

“Rough morning?” Beca smirked, receiving one of the driest looks she’s gotten from Stacie, probably ever. 

“A morning with Aubrey Posen was a dream of mine. I just wish she hadn’t told the nurse I was breaking dress code while telling her about her injury.”

Beca grimaced, checking over Stacie’s attire. “Well, they didn’t make you change at least.”

Stacie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, because the nurses don’t care, they’re empowered women, Beca.”

“Okay?”

“I’m just mad this is how junior year started. Any luck with Chloe?”

Beca looked away, flushing. 

“Beca, do you have something to share with the class?” Stacie poked her friend on the arm, grinning brightly. 

“No…” Beca scooted her seat away, “I just… I feel bad because you literally fucked up your first interaction with her this year, but Chloe saw me alone in the hallway today and basically forced her way into my life.”

“She what?” Stacie was bouncing in her seat now. 

Beca rolled her eyes, looking as though it pained her to recount this. “I guess I was wearing my headphones the shortest _centimeter_ off of my ears, and she heard my music.”

“Beca, your music is constantly at full volume. I think she would have heard it no matter what.”

“Whatever,” Beca turned forward as the instructor came in, “she grabbed my headphones, put them on, and began to _dance and sing_ down the hallway!” 

“Damn, I’m kinda sad I missed that.” Stacie murmured. “She has an amazing voice.”

“Stacie.”

“And an amazing ass.”

“ _Stacie!_ ”

“I just don’t see why you’re so annoyed when you’re so enamored with her.”

“Because, she - she’s just so pretty! And I feel like an _idiot_ when I’m around her

The bell rang, and the teacher clapped his hands. “Welcome to Honors Physics. I’m Professor Berrian, and I think you’ll enjoy this.” 

Stacie grinned and Beca groaned, along with half of the class.

The teacher pouted. “Well, I’ll enjoy it.”

“I just-”

Stacie held up a hand. “Science is about to happen.”

“No it is not.”

“And the sink is on fire!” the professor shouted, causing the class to clap.

* * *

Stacie sighed in relief when she saw her usual table wasn’t open, because it was filled with four of her friends. 

“Sweet! We all have lunch together this year!”

“Yeah Stacie, we know. We told each other like two weeks ago.”

Stacie shrugged. “Yeah, but, you know how server errors are.” 

She sat down next to Beca, Ashley, Denise, and Cynthia-Rose, and took out her lunch, feeling content.

“You know, as cliche as this sounds, I think this year might turn out alright.” Stacie said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

Denise rolled her eyes. “You say that every year, and every year the same exact thing happens. You talk to everyone but Aubrey, Beca talks to no one, but _especially_ doesn’t talk to Chloe, and Ashley pretends she’s not gay.”

“I’m not!”

“Okay.”

“... I’m _not_!”

Jessica, Luke, and Aubrey walked by with their trays at that moment, and the former turned her head towards the table. “Hey, Ashley.”

Ashley cleared her throat, her voice dropping half an octave, and she nodded towards the smiling blonde. “‘Sup?”

Jessica giggled, Luke and Aubrey rolling their eyes in exasperation at the delay to their table.

Ashley turned back to her table, avoiding the other four’s eyes. “I… I didn’t want you guys to see that.” 

“Gay people flock together. It’s been like, scientifically proven or something.” Stacie shrugged, gesturing her head to the other three members of the table. 

Cynthia-Rose nodded. “Sociology 101.”

“You just took your first class of Sociology _today_.” 

Cynthia-Rose glared at Denise, begrudgingly accepting her open hand and intertwining their fingers.

Stacie looked over at Aubrey, who looked as though she was doing fine, to her relief. The blonde caught her eye, smirking at her, and Stacie wondered why Aubrey could only glare at her or throw her a lopsided smile.

Stacie sighed, shaking her head and deciding it was better to just join her friends’ conversation than to stare at a girl who calls her “Anastasia”.

“I’m telling you, Two Mice Men can _not_ -”

“ _Two Mice Men_?”

“It’s not great! Okay?” 

“It’s not called Two Mice Men, Beca! That was the issue with your statement!”

“Oh. Well I read it over the summer and it was kind of shit.”

Denise gasped. “The fuck? No it wasn’t!”

“Who the fuck wears a glove full of vaseline?”

Cynthia-Rose only smirked, and Denise slapped her on the side of the arm. “You do not do that, don’t even!”

“What do you think, Stacie?”

The four turned to Stacie, who was -

 _Damn it_ , Stacie thought, pulling her eyes away from Aubrey again. “Sorry, that’s on me. I’m back.”

Beca rolled her eyes, sending a wary look to her tall friend. “Stacie slammed into Aubrey today like an idiot and now she remembers why she’s in love with her.” 

“She called me Anastasia.” Stacie mumbled, resting her chin on her hand.

“And you _let_ her?” Ashley asked, eyes mockingly wide. 

“I don’t know why she calls me that or why I kinda like it or why I can’t get her off of my mind, but it’s worse than it was last year.”

Denise patted her on the shoulder, nodding sympathetically. “They say if a crush lasts longer than four months, it’s love.”

Cynthia Rose nodded. “Sociology 102.”

“None of that is true.”

“Shut up, Ashley.”

The bickering became too much for Stacie, and she went back to her new favorite pastime - watching Aubrey.

Wait, no. That sounded creepy as shit. Her favorite pastime was sending a glance towards Aubrey and hoping the blonde was looking back. She was, like, one tenth of the time, and that was enough for Stacie. Especially since she was able to throw a wink towards the blonde. Sure, all she got in response was a roll of the eyes or a shake of the head, but attention was attention. 

“Hey, um, this is stupid but I kinda…” Ashley trailed off, fiddling with her hands. “I want to join acapella this year.”

Stacie took in a quick breath of excitement, and Beca buried her face in her hands. “I was certain Stacie had forgotten about this.” 

“What?” Ashley looked between the two.

“Yes, yes, we should all audition!” 

“Hell no, I am _not_ wearing that uniform.” 

“Oh come on, we’d look sweet in flight attendant apparel.”

Denise shrugged. “She’s sort of right. And they have zero altos.” 

“Isn’t Flo in acapella?” 

Denise scoffed. “Flo can’t hit a low E flat. And trust me, they’ll need it.”

“Don’t they have the guys for that?”

“They all graduated or quit. Aubrey is too controlling and Bumper wants to start a boy band instead.” 

“And how’s that working out for him?”

Denise threw her head back a bit, subtly motioning to Bumper, Jesse, Donald, and Benji who were giving each other their rapt attention. 

“Bumper thinks they can make it on YouTube if they perform at the talent show, Jesse thinks this is his big break into the performing arts, Donald just wants Lily to notice him, and Benji is in it for the outfits.”

“How do you even know that?”

“Second period Sociology.”

“Yeah, of course.” 

“They’re really loud.”

“No shit.”

“Look,” Stacie started, “Beca and I have massive toners for the co-captains, and this is our one shot.”

“How is this our ‘one shot’? There’s like, a million other ways we could do this.”

“Shut up, Beca! This is the easiest shot, at least. All we have to do is walk in, sing one song, and not dance like idiots and we have a whole year with them.”

Beca shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m going to agree to this.”

Stacie fist pumped, Cynthia-Rose and Ashley nodding along.

“Yeah, I’m in. Jessica’s in it and she says it’s fun.”

“I could’ve sworn she was shoe-in for captain this year.”

“She was, but she has like three APs to worry about and didn’t feel like balancing it all.”

“Who can blame her?”

“Aubrey can, since she’s taking four and still captaining the Bellas.” Stacie smirked.

Ashley flipped the taller girl off. “First off, fuck you, I bet Jessica could kick Aubrey’s ass. Secondly, the Bellas?”

Stacie looked away sheepishly. “Aubrey changed the name, now that it’s all girls. It’s all over their Instagram.” 

Beca snorted. “Of course you would resort to stalking her acapella page.”

“Dude, shut up! I was interested in joining!”

“Didn’t the acapella girls do a car wash last year?” Denise pondered out loud, smirking.

“The pictures are definitely on that page.”

“I heard Aubrey got soaked.”

“ _Shut up!_ ”

* * *

Auditions were held that Friday in the West Wing Auditorium, located on the east side of the school. 

“You know, most freshmen don’t believe it when they’re told it’s on the east side.”

“‘Most freshmen’ definitely just means you.” 

“Shut up, Beca.” Stacie responded, walking into the auditorium and taking her seat. 

Aubrey walked onto stage, holding a list of names and looking down. “Okay, no boys, great!” she looked up at who was there, her eyes landing on Stacie. Stacie tried, but she could barely see a reaction to her being here. 

Chloe joined Aubrey on stage, basically skipping to her best friend. “You’ll be singing sixteen bars of Titanium!” 

“What? I told you to supply them with Since U Been Gone!”

“I switched the sheet music, this song is so good, Bree!”

“Preach.” Beca called out, unsure why she had said anything.

Chloe beamed at her, and Beca wished she could be swallowed by a black hole. 

“Well I hope you all brought your A game.” Aubrey said, clenching her paper harder. 

The two walk off stage and to the front where a desk is set up. The rest of the Barden Bellas are sitting farther away in the back, and Jessica smiles when she watches Ashley get up first. 

“Uh, hi, I’m Ashley Jones, and I do, um, I do beat-boxing? I mean, I sing, but I beat-box mostly, and-”

“Yes, we got it. Please start.” Aubrey tapped her fingers on her desk. Chloe looked over at her, and then looked back at Ashley, grinning.

“Good luck!”

Ashley tapped four beats with her foot, and started.

One by one, the rest of the girls (and a few stragglers) went, some impressive, and some…

“You call yourself Fat Amy?”

“Oh don’t act like you haven’t heard my name around these parts.” Amy finger gunned at the other blonde.

“Yes, but you call _yourself_ that.” 

“I don’t care what you call me as long as I make callbacks.” 

“There aren’t any.”

“...Uh, and a-one, and a-two…”

When it was Stacie’s turn, she could only hope her performance would impress Aubrey. She knew the blonde was infamous for her scrutiny and she knew she had to nail every note and beat to knock her socks off. 

“Anastasia, I didn’t know you could sing.”

The rest of Stacie’s friends watched as Stacie only smirked. “There’s a lot of sounds I can make with my mouth.”

Aubrey blanched.

Beca laughed. 

Aubrey glared at Beca.

Beca flipped Aubrey off. 

Stacie could see their friendship fledging already. 

The rest of the auditions went on without a hitch. Well, they almost did, except Chloe insisted on joining Beca during her song and harmonizing, despite the fact she was _definitely_ not supposed to do that. 

“She was just so small on that stage, Bree, I couldn’t resist!”

“Why are you like this?” Aubrey sighed, turning to the girls. “Well, none of you were bad. Not fantastic, but we need members and you’re what we’ve got. Welcome to the Barden Bellas!”

The girls weren’t sure if they were supposed to cheer or be offended, so they just shouted out a lackluster “yay” together and stood up to leave. 

Stacie and Beca walked towards the doors to the auditorium slowly. Beca walked slowly because she was tired from an eight hour school day, and Stacie walked slowly just in case Aubrey wanted to call out her name and confess her love for her. 

“Beca?”

Damnit.

Beca turned around, eyes darting around to not meet Chloe’s. 

“You _can_ sing!” Chloe gave her a petulant frown, her hands on her hips.

“What?”

Chloe scoffed. “In the hallway, earlier, you refused to sing with me because you said you couldn’t!”

Beca bit out a sharp laugh. “I said I couldn’t sing in the _hallway_! Because there were _people_ there, minding their own business!” 

Chloe pouted. “You’re going to have to sing in front of everyone, anyway. The talent show is coming up!” 

“That’s our big performance?”

“We don’t get enough funding to actually travel anywhere.” 

Stacie frowned. “We should fix that.” 

“Great idea, Stacie, I’m sure they’ve never thought of that.” 

Stacie elbowed her friend slightly. “Well, Beca and I will definitely help, if you need it. Maybe next year we could compete against some other schools.”

Chloe grinned, bouncing slightly in place. “Thanks! We’ll need all the help we can get!”

“Chloe!” Aubrey’s voice bellowed through the auditorium.

“Coming!” Chloe said, turning around. She stopped suddenly, turning halfway back. “Bye, Stacie, bye Beca!” She ended that with a wink, and skipped away. 

Stacie grinned, and Beca could only marvel.

“She likes you.”

“She does not.”

“You like her.”

“Stop it, _Anastasia._ ”

“Oh fuck off.”

* * *

Rehearsals were held Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, and although Beca certainly had the freetime to handle it, she much preferred spending her free time alone. 

Stacie, on the other hand, liked being preoccupied. She constantly had her school work on her mind, and all the singing and dancing would be a welcomed distraction. 

Walking into the choir room, Stacie, Beca, and Ashley took in their surroundings. Music sheets littered the desks on the side of the room, with a set of risers backed against the wall. Two rows of chairs were arranged in a semi circle around the piano, and the white board in the front of the room had “vocal assignments” written on it. 

The other girls had already arrived, sitting in pairs or triplets and talking amongst themselves. 

When Beca, Stacie, and Ashley had sat down, Aubrey and Chloe got up to the front to speak.

“Okay, before we start anything, we have to determine what voice parts each of you are. Jessica and Flo have already been through this, but they will participate just to show you how it’s done.” Aubrey instructed, moving behind the piano to start warm ups. 

The girls caught on quickly to each vocal warm up, and Stacie found it fun to hear her voice grow stronger during the higher notes. She should have definitely been warming up this whole time, but it was too late now. 

“Great! Now, I will call you up in triplets and move down the scale, and then up the scale. Those of you who sing strongest and have the most depth in your lower range will sing “bass”, also known as alto two, and those of you with the highest range will be put as soprano one or soprano two. One of you will be our beatboxer, and another one will be chosen to add to that percussion to add depth and sound.” 

Three by three, the girls were tested, until they were separated into their parts. Denise and Flo took the bass line, while Beca, Amy, and Cynthia-Rose took the alto one line. Stacie, Chloe, and Emily, an excitable freshman, were soprano two, and Aubrey and Jessica were the soprano ones. Lily and Ashley fist bumped when they realized they would be splitting the percussion between them. 

“We don’t have a ton of girls, but we have enough to create a supplemental sound.” Aubrey conceded, and the girls nodded. Most of them were new to acapella, so they were just going to agree with whatever the blonde said. 

“Aubrey and I usually make the arrangements, but if any of you have ideas…”

“You can take them up with me.” Aubrey said pointedly, almost daring the group to have a say. 

The group only stared. 

Aubrey smiled, but it looked menacing all the same. “Great! That took up most of our time, so you can all leave now.” 

Stacie grabbed her bag and turned to Beca, but was surprised to see her friend had actually gotten up on her own. Not only that, but she had willingly walked towards Chloe, to _talk_ to her like a normal human being. 

That gave the brunette an opportunity to look at Aubrey, who was undoubtedly still hot regardless of how scary she could be in rehearsal, even when they weren’t doing anything. 

She made her way over to Aubrey, who was talking to Jessica about something that didn’t seem too important. Jessica went to turn away, so Stacie made her move.

“Hey, that was kind of cool today.” 

Aubrey turned towards her, an eyebrow raised. “Singing?”

“Uh, yeah, like learning our vocal parts and range. I’ve never done that before.” 

“I feel like you really should have done that before today.” 

Stacie shrugged. “I’ve never performed outside of Beca’s garage. I’ve sung in the shower but I’ve never figured out how high I could go.” 

“It’s important to know your limitations.” 

“Yeah, I’m not fantastic at low notes. Maybe I can work on going down?” 

Aubrey guffawed, and Stacie could only smirk. “You did that on purpose, Anastasia.”

“I do everything on purpose.” Stacie winked at her. “Plus, I think we have chemistry, and there’s no chemistry without getting a reaction out of you.”

“Do you think you’re being clever?” 

Stacie faltered for a moment, before regaining her composure. “Yeah, do you?” 

Aubrey paused for a minute, her eyes flickering between Stacie’s. “I think you’re going to have to try a little less.” 

With that, Aubrey swept her bag up and walked away in one, swift move. 

“Try less? Try _less_?” Who was this girl and what did she do with the real Aubrey? 

“Hey, Stacie, are you ready to go?” Beca called towards her friend, who looked frozen in place. “Uh, are you good, dude?” 

Stacie shook her head, turning to Beca. “Honestly, she is… a surprise.”

“How do you have a crush on a girl for a year and a half and just figure out she’s a ‘surprise’?”

“You have a crush on Aubrey?” Stacie froze, looking to her right to see Chloe had just stood up from behind the piano. 

“I - I mean, a crush is so, rudimental, I wouldn’t-” 

“Stacie, it’s a little too late, now. Chloe won’t tell Aubrey.”

“They’re _best friends_ and you just _met_ Chloe!” 

“And Chloe is right here!” Chloe raised her hand up, still smiling. 

“Hello Chloe, what I meant to say is, yes, I have a huge crush on your best friend. She is hot.”

“Awesome finish, there.”

“Was I lying?” 

“I can’t blame her.” Chloe conceded, and Stacie smirked. 

“Whatever. So, does Stacie even have a chance?”

“Damn I forgot some girls don’t like girls. That blows.”

Chloe giggled. “You know, they say LGBT teenagers flock together.”

Stacie’s smile grew, and Beca just stared, oblivious. “You don’t take Sociology.”

The taller brunette nudged her friend, gesturing to Chloe. “They’re both into girls.”

Beca’s jaw dropped just a little, eyebrows scrunched together. “Dude.”

Chloe and Stacie laughed, turning back to each other. “So, yeah, Aubrey is into girls. I don’t know if she’s into any right now, but the fact she’s willing to deal with your obvious flirting is a pretty good sign.”

Stacie glowered, muttering to herself. “She told me to tone it down.” 

Chloe smiled. “Then tone it down, easy solution.”

“But I want to make her blush.” Stacie whined.

“That’s not really how Aubrey works. Sexual innuendos aren’t going to make her blush, they’re going to make her snarky.”

“Ah, yeah, I noticed that.”

“Just be honest with her. That would probably work.”

Stacie nodded, taking in the information. “Yeah, alright, I’ll try. I just wanna see her outside of school sometime.”

“Then ask her out.”

Stacie furrowed her brows. “I don’t really know her, though.”

“That’s what the date part is for. To get to know her, out of school. This literally is meeting all of your requirements.” Beca added, and Stacie was surprised Beca was actually keeping up with this conversation. 

“Alright, alright, whatever. I’ll do it. I don’t expect it’ll work out well, though.”

“Honesty!” Chloe answered, and then skipped away to get her bag. “I’ll see you guys later, but I gotta run! Aubrey’s waiting for me!” essentially singing that last line, Chloe skipped out of the room.

“Do you think she’s gonna tell Aubrey?”

“Dude, no.”

“Aw, you trust her.”

“Shut up.”

“What were you two talking about, anyway?”

Beca shrugged. “I told her that song she was listening to today was one of my mixes.”

“You willingly told Chloe Beale about your mixes?”

“Dude, the summer honestly opened my eyes. We had so much fun together, I’m just thinking of the fun I could have with someone I like, love, or something.” 

“Aw, Beca! You’re growing up!” Stacie went to hug Beca, but the shorter one pushed her away. 

“Whatever, I’m just trying to try. I don’t even know if she likes me, though.”

Stacie smirked. “She likes girls, though, and that’s half the battle.”

Surprisingly, Beca only smiled. “Yeah, halfway there.”

They walked towards Stacie’s car, Stacie quietly humming “Living on a Prayer”.

“But, yeah, I told her I made mixes and I could help in song arrangements. She, like, I don’t know. She didn’t brush me off, but she seemed sort of, ‘Oh, maybe, heh,’ about it, you know?” Beca finally spoke again.

“Uh, not really.”

“She just sounded like it would be a bad idea but didn’t wanna tell me that.”

“I don’t know, didn’t she like the mix?”

“She was _dancing_ up and down the _school hallway_!” 

Stacie laughed. “Yeah, she did. Well, maybe you can bring it up in front of everyone on Thursday.”

“Yeah, maybe. Can we stop at McDonald’s before you drop me off?”

“Do you have McDonald’s money?”

“You know Aubrey likes girls, now.”

“You know what, McDonald’s is on me, today.”  
  



	2. I think the story needs more pages, I’ve been in love with her for ages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I just don’t really get the whole ‘confession’ thing,” Stacie said, throwing one of Beca’s stress balls at the ceiling and catching it. 
> 
> “What?”
> 
> “What?”
> 
> “You just sat down on my bed and said ‘I don’t get the whole confession thing’ with no context.”
> 
> Stacie scrunched up her face. “Oh, right. Well, people always say they wanna confess their feelings for their crush, right?”
> 
> “Yeah. You told me to do that like eight times last year.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just saw the tweet where Anna Camp ‘confirmed’ that Aubrey was in love with Stacie and idk I’ve been reading a ton of fanfiction lately (I’m super into Junksen now tbh) and wow I wanted to finish this chapter. Also, I heard Anna Camp’s version of “Here You Come Again” and COME ON!

“I just don’t really get the whole ‘confession’ thing,” Stacie said, throwing one of Beca’s stress balls at the ceiling and catching it. 

“What?”

“What?”

It was Wednesday afternoon and Stacie had just come over Beca’s after a grueling English test. She couldn’t believe they were three weeks in and she was getting _tests_. She definitely needed a break.

“You just sat down on my bed and said ‘I don’t get the whole confession thing’ with no context.”

Stacie scrunched up her face. “Oh, right. Well, people always say they wanna confess their feelings for their crush, right?”

“Yeah. You told me to do that like eight times last year.”

“Anyway... It puts so much pressure on them. Just ask them out, you know?”

Beca rolled her eyes. “You know you can ask her out any time, right?” 

“Ugh, I know! I know I can, I know I could literally waltz up to her, and do it, but… That seems anticlimactic, right?”

“It doesn’t have to be a whole sha-bang, Stace.”

“Yeah, yeah, if that were true you’d just kiss Chloe already.” 

Beca blew a piece of hair away from her face, staring at the ceiling. “I want to, but… I mean, you know I’ve never kissed anyone. And she’s been talking to Tom Walton lately and he’s literally everything I’m not.”

“She can be attracted to both sides of the spectrum.”

“As if. If she can have any guy she wants, she can have any girl she wants, too. Straight girls included.”

“Amen.”

“ _Stacie_.”

“You can’t keep getting mad at me when I agree that Chloe is hot.”

Beca scoffed. “How would you feel if I said Aubrey was hot?”

“I would say ‘true that’, and we would move on.” 

“Fuck that.”

Stacie laughed, right before missing the stress ball and hitting herself in the face with it. “Alright, I deserved that.”

“So, if you don’t want to ‘confess’ your feelings for Aubrey, what _are_ you gonna do to get her to notice you?”

“In case you didn’t notice, I already got her to notice me.” Stacie said triumphantly, smirking.

Beca waved her hand around lazily. “Yeah, yeah, I meant some stupid plan to get _her_ to ask you out.”

“Oh, I definitely have one of those. I’m thinking we make a kick ass arrangement and show her what we’re made of!” 

Beca raised her eyebrows, trying not to laugh. “That’s your plan?”

“Picture it,” Stacie put her arm around Beca’s shoulder, stretching her other hand out, “We perform last, the rush of adrenaline pumping through us as we step off stage, just to be called back on for the announcement. They announce _us_ as the winners, and Aubrey turns to the closest person - _me_ \- and hugs them. She realizes what she’s doing, pulling away quickly, but pausing. We lean in, slowly, but Chloe interrupts us to hug Aubrey. I walk away, embarrassed, before Aubrey calls my name. Running towards me, she grabs me, and we kiss.” Catching Beca’s “are you serious” look, she quickly added on, “Oh, and Chloe kisses you. Yay!”

Beca pulled away, shaking her head. “Okay, weirdly specific, but that’s somehow not the most far fetched thing I’ve heard from you.” Beca shudders, thinking about their football conversation.

“Great! So, can you help me come up with a mix?”

“Why me? This is your weird problem.”

“Chloe’s co captain.”

“Chloe’s not gonna give a shit.”

Stacie turned, sending an _are you serious_ look Beca’s way.

“Point made. Didn’t Aubrey make it super obvious we’re not supposed to do that, though?” Beca asked, causing Stacie to pause.

“Well, yeah, but it shows we’re dedicated. Wouldn’t that outweigh the other stuff?”

Beca shrugged. “I dunno. You’re the one that said she’s a surprise, who knows how she’ll react?” 

“Just… humor me, anyway? I know you’ve got a bajillion mashups on that computer of yours.” Stacie stood up to go investigate the object in question, and Beca jumped out of bed to grab her. 

Stacie narrowly avoided falling on her face, turning around towards her friend. “Dude, again, if you’re training without me, I’m going to be insulted.

“If you want to see a mashup, ask me! Don’t touch my computer with your dirty hands!”

Stacie looked down. “They look clean to me.”

Beca face palmed. “Dude…” Beca opened her laptop, scrolling through her mix folder. “Yeah, I’ve got one I think they’d like.”

“Really?”

“Chloe’s super into Maroon 5, and Aubrey’s gonna hate it no matter what.”

“Then why did you say they’d like it?”

“Okay by ‘they’ I meant ‘Chloe’ and by ‘like’ I meant ‘Chloe will like it’.”

“Yep. Awesome.”

“Well, no matter what, Aubrey’s going to be peeved _you_ made a suggestion and that _I_ helped, so you pick your poison.”

Stacie paused for only a second, and then shrugged. “Which one were you thinking?”

Beca used the trackpad to open up one, and Stacie squinted her eyes to read ‘LS-US V. 03’. When the track began to play, Stacie nodded her head to the rhythm. ““Love Somebody” and “Use Somebody”?”

Beca nodded, smirking. “This is the one Chloe heard in the hallway.”

Stacie grinned. “There’s no way Aubrey can say no to Chloe.”

“Exactly.”

“Do you think there’s any way we can actually do this as an arrangement?”

The shorter brunette reopened her mix folder and moved over to another mashup. “Well, that one is pretty simplistic, so if you wanted we could change the mashup from “Love Somebody” to “Club Can’t Handle Me” at the end. I mean, I think Cynthia Rose can rap, so…” Beca dragged the song into the program, speeding up the end of the track and fading it into the newer mix.

Stacie watched as her friend worked, and after around ten minutes she finally spoke. “Shit, this is kind of impressive. And complicated.”

Beca rolled her eyes. “It honestly becomes muscle memory, and these were both pre-made anyway.” Beca continued to work, dragging in one more song that had been stripped of its instrumental, and putting it at the end. ““Dynamite” also works with the chorus, so I can add various strips of that.”

Stacie bit her lip. “I think Aubrey would want at least one song by a woman.”

Beca rolled her eyes. “I’m a DJ, not a miracle worker,” she muttered, but still went looking for another song. “Yeah I’m honestly coming up blank. Here, you try.”

Stacie scrunched her nose. “I don’t think I can…” 

Beca played the track anyway, and Stacie tried to listen intently, before she began to quietly hum a familiar song. 

Beca smiled, looking through her acapella files and dragging in “Die Young”, layering a few lines over the first chorus, meshing it with Adam Levine’s voice. As Beca worked on the tracks, polishing it up, the two continued to talk about how Beca came up with ideas for mixes and how the process worked. 

“This might be a little complicated, but this is what you wanted.”

Stacie grinned. “Dude, you just spent the last forty minutes making a new mix for me. I’m not complaining.”

Beca shrugged. “You’ve done stuff for me, too. Plus, Chloe’s gonna love it more than Aubrey will.”

“You keep saying that, but how could she be mad about this?”

“Because we have no idea how to actually break this down into parts, so we’re coming in with a half-assed idea and forcing them to actually make it a real thing.”

“Shit.”

Beca sighed. “I’m sure there’s sheet music for all of these songs on their own, but I don’t know how to transpose the music to match one key.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“I’m just gonna put this on a USB and throw it at Aubrey tomorrow and hope it works.”

Stacie slapped Beca’s arm, sending her a glare. “You give it to her nicely or I’ll tell Chloe you sleep with the lights on.”

“It’s _one_ light and it’s covered by a big lampshade, okay?”

* * *

“Beca, what are you _wearing_?” Ashley snorted, obviously amused.

It was lunch that Thursday, and the four girls had been chatting before Beca walked up, obviously trying to play it cool.

Beca blushed, looking away. “Nothing, I’m just dressed.”

Denise rolled her eyes. Beca was wearing some weird, Geek-Charming-Makeover-Scene outfit, high tops and a grey jean jacket included. 

“It’s literally nothing special.”

“You look like every boy band member from 2009.”

“Big Time Rush. You’re just talking about Big Time Rush.”

Stacie shrugged. “I loved Big Time Rush.”

Ashley looked over at the taller brunette, and they both began to sing the Big Time Rush theme song. 

Beca lowered her brows, dropping her tray onto the table loudly and sitting down. “I just wanted to look good today.”

Cynthia Rose coughed into her hand. “Because of acapella.” 

“First off, cough into your elbow next time. Secondly, shut the fuck up. Tom dresses like shit and I want to show Chloe that I can at least best him at something.”

Stacie rolled her eyes. “I’ve told you like eight times, Chloe does _not_ like Tom! They share one class that you happen to have with her, and you said they sit two rows apart!”

“Yeah but he keeps making jokes and she keeps laughing,” Beca grumbled, “I dunno. I’m just…”

“Insecure. Just say you’re insecure.”

“Fine, yeah, whatever! I’m insecure.”

Denise smiled softly. “You honestly look really good, though, Beca.”

The shorter brunette blushed, looking down at her shoes. “Thanks. I bought this shit a while ago but I haven’t been able to wear it. I just thought it was a bit much.”

“I’m sure Chloe will appreciate it.” Stacie gestured around Beca’s body, stopping at where she was sitting. “Especially with those skinny jeans.”

Cynthia-Rose let out a low whistle, and Ashley laughed. Denise only slapped Cynthia-Rose’s arm. “Be nice, she’s actually trying for this girl.”

Beca scoffed. “I try!”

“Beca, you wore the same pair of sweatpants three days in a row last year and tried to pass them off as three different pairs.”

“Even though ‘all three pairs’ had the same stain on the knee.”

“Dude, a stain? Gross.” 

Beca groaned. “It wasn’t, like, a gross stain. It was apple juice, I poked through the juice box.”

“Ignoring the fact you were drinking out of a juice box _last year_ , you still chose to wear that pair of pants three times after the incident.”

“Juice boxes are the shit.” Cynthia-Rose fist bumped Beca across the table.

Denise groaned. “Do not encourage her.”

Ashley turned back to Beca. “I think if you keep dressing like this, you’re going to have more than just Chloe vying for your attention.”

Beca furrowed her brows, scrunching her nose. “What do you mean?”

Ashley titled her head up, gesturing behind Beca. “Check it out.”

Beca, unable to be subtle, turned around almost completely to be met with three girls' eyes, all but one quickly flickering away. Barbara Lanpher looked a moment longer, before turning back. 

“What the fuck?” Beca said as she turned back around.

“You really thought you were going to avoid the Gay Straight Alliance girls?”

“I thought they were allies?”

“That was freshmen year when everyone gay girl was an ‘ally’.” Cynthia-Rose smirked, turning to Denise. 

Denise’s eyebrows lowered. “Don’t act like you were responsible for anything. My sexual awakening was Mrs. Abernathy-McKadden.” 

Ashley barked out a laugh. “Our 9th grade geometry teacher?” 

“The one and only.” Denise sighed out, pretending to swoon.

“Whatever.” Cynthia-Rose rolled her eyes, scooting away from Denise. 

Stacie patted Beca on the shoulder, pointing her thumb back. “Way to go, Becs.”

Beca groaned. “This is shit! It’s like a bad movie. One nice outfit and they’re going to notice me?”

Stacie snorted. “You’re so stupid sometimes.”

Beca recoiled. “What?”  
  
“They’ve been talking about you since you released your first mix on SoundCloud. They’re only being obvious because they know you’re gay now, and you’re right here, being hot, in front of them.” 

Beca crossed her arms. “This isn’t for their eyes.”

“Aw, don’t worry, Becs. I bet jealousy would look good on Chloe.” Cynthia-Rose winked, and Beca groaned again.

“Why does everyone have to think Chloe’s hot?”

“Are you surprised?”

“Well, gah, no! But that doesn’t mean I wanna hear it!” 

“Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, Beca.” Stacie said, shaking her head solemnly. 

“If Chloe compliments me, I’m gonna act oblivious and call her my gal pal just to piss you guys off.”

The other four laughed. “You don’t need to act oblivious, Beca.” Ashley said, and Beca lowered her head into her crossed arms. 

“You guys suck. Go pick on someone your own size.”

“Okay. Hey Ashley, how’s Jessica?” Stacie asked, smirking at the brunette. 

Ashley rolled her eyes. “So clever. For your information, she told me she liked my beatboxing, and that I should teach her sometime.”

“Oh, oh-!”

“No Stacie, I’m not going to tell her about all the other sounds I can help her make.”

Stacie blanched. “If you had let me _finish_ , I would have said -” 

“No, you wouldn’t have. You’re just bullshitting. You were definitely going to make a sex joke.”

Stacie flipped Ashley off, deciding to occupy her mouth with food instead of fighting words. 

* * *

Beca took a deep breath before she walked into the choir room, psyching herself up. She had been told in the past she had some signature strut to her, but she knew she really had to play it up if she wanted to look cool.

Okay, no, she didn’t understand that “playing it up” was actually going to make her look like an idiot, but it was too late for that as she pushed through the doors. 

Sauntering over to her seat, Beca met almost everyone’s eyes except for Chloe’s smirking as she did so. 

Stacie rolled her eyes, watching her friend plop down next to Cynthia-Rose, and - oh my god, was she man-spreading? What the Hell? 

Chloe’s eyes were wider than usual, and Stacie could see her gulp. 

_Are you kidding me?_ Stacie thought as she looked between the two girls. _Is anyone else seeing this shit?_

As if she had said it out loud, Ashley turned and rolled her eyes at the situation. Stacie shrugged, nodding in agreement. 

Beca finally looked up at Chloe, smirking, and Stacie concluded she had never looked more like a fuck boy then in that moment. 

Stacie decided there was only one thing to do, and took out her phone. A moment later, Beca’s own phone buzzed, and her eyebrows knitted together as she read the message. 

_Honesty, Beca, honesty!_

Beca looked up at Stacie, mouthing “ _What_?” before Stacie sent another message. 

_Stop acting like a douche._

Beca flushed in embarrassment, and pulled her legs back together. Bringing her phone back to her face, she responded:

_My b._

Stacie rolled her eyes.

_Friends don’t let friends act like Tom Walton to impress a girl. Trust me, no one is impressed by Tom Walton._

Chloe was looking between the two girls, who were oblivious that everyone in the room could see they were clearly having a conversation between themselves over text. Shaking her head, she headed behind the piano as Aubrey walked through the door. 

Aubrey took one look at Beca and rolled her eyes, walking toward the piano with a stack of sheet music. 

“Okay, Chloe and I decided on an arrangement we both liked, and we want to start practicing it today.” 

Stacie’s eyes went wide, looking over to Beca to see the shorter girl’s similar expression. 

“Anything you’d like to say, Anastasia?” Aubrey asked, smirking at the shocked brunette.

“Well, I… It’s just that-”

“We came up with an arrangement.”

Aubrey turned towards Beca. “Aca-scuse me?” 

Beca laughed before she could stop herself. Aubrey was definitely not happy.

“Sorry, sorry,” Beca held her hands up in surrender. “It’s just, Stacie and I worked on a mix yesterday and we wanted to share it.” 

“A mix isn’t anything, Beca. We have actual sheet music, and it cost us money.”

Beca shrugged. “We could use that some other time. I just think we should have other options, since this is supposed to be a group effort.”

Stacie gestured sharply at Beca to quit while she’s ahead, but the shorter girl ignored her. 

Aubrey’s eyebrows lowered, and she looked towards Chloe. “Did you encourage this?”

“Her mixes are really good, Bree, but no, I didn’t.” 

Aubrey looked back at Beca. “Fine, if you two have something to share, then share it.” 

Stacie grimaced, mouthing a “sorry” at Aubrey before Beca stood up. Walking over to the speaker, Beca plugged in her phone and began to play the track she had uploaded to her iTunes. 

The other girls began to nod along, and Chloe beamed when she heard the starting notes, recognizing the song instantly. Beca’s brow furrowed. _So she did like the mix? How afraid of Aubrey is she?_

Aubrey’s sour expression loosened a bit as the other girls got into the song, and she began to nod her head along, reluctantly. Stacie gave her an apologetic smile, but Aubrey only looked away to focus on the speaker. 

When the song finished out, the girls looked at Aubrey expectantly. The blonde huffed, shaking her head. “I’m not going to argue with you all, but remember that, for most of you, this is your first time in acapella. Our biggest problem right now is that many of you can’t read sheet music.”

Half of the group frowned, because that was _sort of_ true.

Ashley piped up. “It can’t be that hard, right?”

Jessica frowned. “It actually is. There’s different clefs and keys to learn, and it’s much harder than just identifying notes and singing them.” Jessica wished she hadn’t said anything when Ashley frowned in response. 

“This isn’t a choir class. We don’t have the time to teach you all that you need to know.” Aubrey said sternly, and Chloe put a hand on the blonde’s arm.

“I’m sure they’re not _entirely_ inexperienced. It wouldn’t be like starting from scratch.”

Beca nodded. “I’ve never dealt with sheet music, but I know about keys from mixing.”

Stacie added on, “I took choir in middle school. It wasn’t super hard, but we learned enough.” 

Aubrey quirked her mouth to one side. “We _do_ have until May to get this setlist down for the talent show. If you are all willing to put in the effort to learn, scour the internet for sheet music, rehearse at home, and potentially add another rehearsal or two in at the end, then fine. We can perform this arrangement.”

Chloe clapped, sending Aubrey a grateful smile, and the rest of the group cheered.

“We may as well spend the rest of today trying to write this arrangement, though.” Aubrey pursed her lips, seeing that the other girls now looked worried. “Because the base of the song is one instrumental, we can find the sheet music for ‘Use Somebody’. After that, we’ll need acapella versions of the other songs.”

Chloe grimaced. “That may cost a bit of money.”

“Yanno, when my dad sent me to the States, he did leave me a pretty good amount of ka-ching, if you know what I mean.” Fat Amy said, raising her hand. 

Beca raised an eyebrow. “Did he, now?”

“Hundred million’s currently sitting in my bank account.”

“Aca- _scuse_ me-”

“What the fuck?” 

“Yeah, I mean, I guess I could chip in and buy what we need.”

Aubrey closed her eyes, shaking her head. “Usually I refrain from taking handouts, but this - this is ridiculous. Okay Amy”

“Fat Amy.”

“ _Amy_. You can buy the sheet music.”

“On it, Cap.” Fat Amy pulled out her phone, and began to type in the names of the songs used. 

“The rest of you can also look, or you can discuss any other ideas you have. I guess we’re allowing that now.” 

Chloe elbowed her friend gently, reprimanding her. 

Stacie raised her hands. “Can we talk about costumes?”

“Usually we just wear the sanctioned Bella’s uniform.”

“The flight attendant look is cute, but I think this setlist deserves a change of plans.”

Aubrey grew weary. “We usually can’t afford that-”

Fat Amy cleared her throat, still scrolling through her phone.

Aubrey nodded. “Okay, we can talk about outfits. Do you have any ideas?”

Stacie shrugged. “I’m not supposed to have ideas. I’m the hot one.”

Aubrey furrowed her brows. “You helped make the setlist.”

Stacie had nothing to say to that, so she was happy when Chloe bounced to Aubrey and offered her own ideas. Beca genuinely smiled at the redhead, but glared at Stacie when she pretended to gag. Stacie smirked, turning back to Aubrey and Chloe who were in what looked like a serious conversation, but all Stacie could hear was “sequins” and “glitter”. The tall brunette began to tune out the words, letting her eyes wander over the side of Aubrey’s face. Stacie grew a lazy smile, before Aubrey looked over, catching her eye. Stacie froze, but she couldn’t wipe that genuine smile off her face. Aubrey, unused to such genuine attention, sucked in a quick breath at the look. 

Aubrey would have to have been blind to not have noticed Anastasia Conrad. The leggy brunette was the center of rumor after rumor, even if most of them made no sense. Every boy in their class tried to turn her into some Easy A character to make themselves seem cooler. Aubrey was not a moron, however, so she never believed anything that was said without proof. 

That didn’t mean she liked the girl or anything. Anastasia was still too brash, too easy going, and far too intelligent for someone who was willingly best friends with Beca Mitchell. The two were always wedging themselves into the cogs in Aubrey’s perfect plans. Last year, the two bribed the DJ at the end of the year semi-formal, getting him to play “No Diggity” at a _school sanctioned event!_

She would never forget the look Anastasia sent her while singing along to the lyrics “ _I can’t get her outta my mind, I think about the girl all the time._ ” 

Aubrey had tried to brush it off, as Anastasia had a habit of sending her weird looks or saying things she probably didn’t mean once in a blue moon. However, this look, coupled with these lyrics, had sent a shiver down the blonde’s spine and left a permanent memory in its wake. 

Now, with all the purposeful flirting Anastasia was doing, Aubrey’s begun to believe that maybe Anastasia had meant everything she had ever said. That maybe, just maybe, she had just been too afraid to confirm that every lingering look hadn’t been on accident. 

Aubrey had clearly spent too long looking at the girl she was thinking about, so she shook herself out of her thoughts and turned back to Chloe, who had already occupied herself with Beca. 

Stacie _had_ to look away. Aubrey was intently staring at her, and Stacie could not stand the burning look the blonde was sending her. 

The brunette tried to get Ashley’s attention, but she was busy talking to Jessica, and Stacie had to roll her eyes. It seemed everyone was getting along just _swimmingly_ , and somehow _she_ was the one who was unable to make a move.

Chloe looked over at her, which was stupid because she was talking to Aubrey, who was _clearly_ going to follow her line of sight. The redhead sent her a smile, tilting her head towards Aubrey, and Aubrey just _looked_ again. 

_What the fuck, Chloe?_

Stacie threw her head back to the ceiling, internally groaning, before getting up and walking over to the two. _It’s now or never_.

“Hey Aubrey, can I talk to you?”

Aubrey’s brows knit together. It was fifteen minutes into the rehearsal and Stacie had given no indication that she had anything important to say. However, Aubrey was the captain and had to oblige. 

Stacie grabbed the blonde’s arm and pulled her away, calling out to the rest of the Bella’s (who were not listening and did not care) “Just for, uh, vocal help!” 

The two walked out of the choir room doors, and Aubrey pulled her arm away, turning the brunette around. “Vocal help? We could go to a practice room…” Aubrey began, but she knew that Stacie was lying. Stacie could sing, but she couldn’t act. 

“You know that’s not what this is about.” Stacie’s voice grew quieter. 

Aubrey met her eyes, and sharply inhaled. Stacie’s eyes were full of - something - and Aubrey wasn’t quite sure what it was, but she was now much more invested. 

“Then what is it about, Anastasia? There are people in that choir room that may actually need my help.”

Stacie only smirked. She didn’t mind her name when Aubrey practically growled it out, her voice low and raspy.

“You should - we should go on a date, sometime.” 

Aubrey was visibly taken aback.

That’s when Stacie panicked. “Or - or I don’t know, we don’t have to! I just, I thought… You wanted me to try less, so I just decided this was the easiest thing to do, and, I mean, Chloe said you were gay, or, liked girls? I don’t know what you call yourself, but - “

Aubrey held up a hand, unable to contain a short laugh. “Anastasia…” Stacie finally looked up from the floor, meeting the blonde’s eyes again. Aubrey had no idea what had just happened to the confident brunette who had pulled her out of the choir room, but Stacie’s vulnerability was so endearing. “I honestly thought there’d be a bit more back and forth with you, but I would love to.”

Stacie grinned. “Really?”

Aubrey melted. “Of course. I know we don’t know each other that well, but I _do_ know you’re a fantastic student. Not to mention you’re a sight for sore eyes,” the blonde winked, and Stacie actually _blushed_. 

“I was… I wanted to hold out a little longer, but I didn’t want to miss out.” 

“Miss out on what?”

“I don’t know… If I waited, and you said no, then I just wasted all that time worrying for nothing. And if I waited and you said yes, then, well, I just wasted all that time when I could have been spending it with… you.” Stacie’s eyes had been flickering around, before finally looking at Aubrey again. The blonde had a small, genuine smile on her face, and Stacie couldn’t help mirroring it.

“You know,” Aubrey started coyly, “this doesn’t mean I’m going to stop calling you Anastasia."

Stacie laughed. “Honestly, I didn’t expect anything else.”

The two looked at each other a few seconds longer, basking in each other’s happiness, before Aubrey gestured to the choir room doors. “We should probably get back in there before Chloe sends a search party.”

Stacie rolled her eyes. “I’m sort of trying to avoid whatever Beca’s going to say about the dumb smile on my face.”

“I don’t think dumb is the right word.”

“What is then? Are you gonna go all sappy on me and call it cute? Precious? _Perfect_?” 

Aubrey huffed. “No, I was going to say stupid. That stupid smile.” 

Stacie grinned. “I think you like it.”

“No, I find it rather unattractive.” Aubrey couldn’t help the grin that grew on her face, completely overshadowing the serious tone she tried to adopt.

“That’s a shame. I guess I’ll just stick to brooding…” Stacie sighed dramatically for good measure.

“If I wanted that, I’d be dating your best friend.”

“Damn, Bree, you’ve got steep competition, then.”

Aubrey smiled at the nickname. “Oh, do I?”

“Yeah, your best friend.”

Aubrey’s expression shifted, first becoming confused, and then shocked. “Wait, _Beca_ is the one Chloe has set to ‘Future Wife’ with like, thirty hearts, in her contacts?”

Stacie couldn’t help but laugh at that, despite the fact Aubrey looked like she was going to throw up. “Beca’s gonna ask her out any day now.”

Aubrey pursed her lips. “Chloe never mentioned any of this.”

“I’m sure she knows how you feel about Beca and how you’d react if she told you.”

Aubrey sighed. “I don’t _hate_ Beca or anything. We just don’t tend to get along.”

“She does really love winding you up.”

Aubrey smirked. “If you can get her to kindly refrain, I’m sure I could find a way to make it up to you.” She added a wink at the end for good measure, unsure of when the roles flipped and she began to flirt, while Stacie only stared.

“On it, captain.” Stacie saluted, trying hard to keep eye contact with Aubrey. It was almost impossible with the way the blonde was making her feel, however, with all the butterflies and heart palpitations. 

The two walked back into the choir room. Most of the girls were still occupied, a few heads poking up to check the distraction and then going back to whatever they were doing. However, Beca and Chloe’s eyes were locked on their respective friends. Beca’s iconic smirk was locked onto Aubrey, and Chloe’s genuine smile was met with one from Stacie.

Stacie sat down next to Beca, smirking back at her. “Your turn.”

Beca’s eyes bulged. “No way.”

Stacie continued to smirk, until Beca crossed her arms. “This isn’t a competition you know.” 

“I know. But there are rewards.” Stacie cocked her head towards the two girls who were now _definitely_ having a serious discussion by the way they both kept looking towards Beca and Stacie. 

Beca shrugged. “My reward is better.”

Stacie flipped her off.


	3. But it's true, yeah it's you, you're the one that makes me feel right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “She asked me if the ‘A’ in ‘LGBTQA’ stands for ally!” 
> 
> “Oh shit, dude, that’s… that’s actually pretty bad.”
> 
> Or, the chapter where things pick up the slightest bit and I spend too much time on dialogue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a little while!
> 
> I’m trying to think about pacing here and where this story is even going. Honestly, the end goal is probably the talent show, right? But this thing is moving SO slow! But I love dialogue so much, it’s like, all I really like to write, yanno? I’m not super creative or anything, but I’m pretty good at dialogue. So I don’t know, I think I’ll just keep writing until I run out of things to say. I’m sure there’ll be some good old fashion time skips and montages and stuff, but for now, I’m just trying to get chapters out that feature my beautiful little ships. 
> 
> Also, I’ve sort of figured out that this is like, split between the three ships sort of evenly, as opposed to one main ship. Staubrey is, of course, my OTP, but I really love Jessley and I feel like Bechloe is a cute addition. Especially the Beca I’m writing, who is actually trying to put herself out there a little, even if she’s inexperienced.
> 
> Also, I am a huge music junkie with all the ranges and mashups, so I want to clarify that all mashups are either pre existing or are possible to do here. I would never put music misinformation in my work lol
> 
> There is no beta so all mistakes are mine.

“She asked me if the ‘A’ in ‘LGBTQA’ stands for _ally_!” 

“Oh shit, dude, that’s… that’s actually pretty bad.”

Ashley shook her head, setting her head into her hands. It had been about a month since the school year started, and Ashley’s entire world had been flipped around. She had put herself out there and joined a girl group that could double as an LGBT dating support group, she was suddenly no longer as straight as she thought she was, and now she had a big crush on Jessica! “She’s the straightest girl I’ve ever met.” 

“Weren’t you straight like, four weeks ago?”

Ashley glared at Denise. “We all knew that was bullshit.”

Denise put her hands up in defense. “Well, I’m just saying, things can change. Maybe Jessica is just a late gay bloomer.”

Beca laughed, while Stacie patted Ashley on the back in sympathy. “I thought you guys were really hitting it off? She blushes every time you speak.” 

“She blushes when the teacher calls on her,” Ashley deadpanned.

The group laughed, but it was actually really sad. 

“It’s whatever,” Ashley shrugged, pulling her head from her hands. “There are a ton of other girls at this school, and-”

Jessica walked by at that moment, and Ashley’s mouth clamped shut. “Hey Ashley.” The blonde waved at her friend, her smile lifting her cheeks up and causing her eyes to squint. 

Ashley sighed contentedly, forgetting her girl troubles for just a minute. “Hey, Jess.” 

Jessica stilled at the table for a moment, putting one hand on Ashley’s shoulder. Denise and Cynthia-Rose spared quick glances at each other, while Stacie held her breath. Beca was as obvious as ever and continued to eat her sandwich, unaware of the tension. 

“I was wondering if I could sit with you today?” Jessica looked up and smiled at the rest of them nervously. “Luke’s absent and Aubrey’s too afraid to ask herself.” 

The other girls looked at the lunch line where Aubrey was very purposefully avoiding their eyes. Stacie snorted, waiting for Aubrey to sneak a glance so she could send the blonde a wink.

Ashley stuttered, looking to her friends for help. “Uh- um, yeah! Yeah, of course. Here,” Ashley shoved Beca out of her seat. “You can sit next to me.”

“Don’t mind me. I’m disposable.” Beca muttered as she got up, dusting her jeans off.

Jessica giggled, sitting next to Ashley and smiling at her. Ashley couldn’t help the way she looked back at the blonde, but she could help the glare she sent to her friends. She could basically hear what they were thinking - “ _a straight girl, Ashley? That’s_ **_so_ ** _freshman year.”_

“So what were you guys talking about?” Jessica asked, and there was a pregnant pause.

“You.” Beca said in the silence, still painfully oblivious to the silent conversations going on around here between the group of friends.

Ashley’s eyes bugged out, and Stacie, ever the actress, swooped in to save her. “We were talking about how experienced you are at acapella. The rest of us feel like we’re bumbling around aimlessly.” She waved her hand around for full affect, and Ashley had never felt more thankful for Stacie’s charm and acting abilities. 

Jessica smiled, balling her hands into little fists and holding them against her chest. Ashley hated that she noticed the action, but found it so adorable that she couldn’t be bothered to care. “Thanks! You guys are doing _so_ well for beginners, though! I think you all are really naturals!”

Cynthia-Rose smiled back, nodding. “We’ve all jammed out together before, so I think that helped.”

“Oh, cool! Like, with instruments?” 

Cynthia-Rose nodded, taking another bite of her mashed potatoes. “Sometimes. Ashley here is a master at the air guitar, though.” 

Ashley blushed, and Jessica gasped. “That’s so cute!” 

“Isn’t it?” Stacie asked, grinning at Ashley, and then looking back at Jessica.

“Yeah! You guys gotta let me see, sometime!” the blonde said, then looked around, losing some enthusiasm. “Um, not to impose or anything, it just sounds really cool…”

Ashley’s heart almost hurt at seeing the blonde’s eyes dim. She risked the embarrassment to put her hand on Jessica’s, making the blonde turn towards her. “Hey, of course you can come. We’d love if you were there, right guys?”

The rest of the group nodded, and Denise spoke up. “Honestly, it’d be great to have another sensible human around. These four can get out of control when they’re together.”

Beca scoffed, shaking her head. “That’s an exaggeration.”

“You guys went up to the softball fields at three in the morning, and Stacie hit the ball so far she cracked a townhouse window!” 

Stacie shrugged. “I don’t see why the townhouses are so close to the park.” 

“Excuse me, who broke a window?” 

Stacie at least had the decency to look sheepish at Aubrey, who had just barely heard what Denise had said before she arrived. Aubrey rolled her eyes, “I’m not sure whether to be impressed by your strength or incredibly disappointed in you.”

Beca laughed. “With Stacie, you’ll probably be both most of the time.”

“Oh shut up, Mitchell. You’re lucky Chloe thinks your brooding is cute.”

Beca actually blushed, glaring at Stacie. “Dude, shut up.”

“Oh don’t even try to deny it. Everyone here knows you like Chloe.”

Jessica raised an eyebrow. “You like Chloe?”

Cynthia-Rose snorted. “Okay, _now_ everyone knows you like Chloe.”

“They’re hanging out _tonight_ ,” Stacie grinned wolfishly, nudging Beca with her elbow. 

The other girls “Oooo” and Beca crosses her arms on the lunch table, putting her head on her arms.

“Well, good luck! Chloe isn’t really a hard nut to crack, so I’m sure it’ll go well!” Jessica said, and Beca gave her a grateful smile.

“Yeah, I hope so. I’m just nervous, and I have to clean my room and shit.”

“Oh, you think you’ll end up in your _room_?” Ashley smirked, and Beca rolled her eyes. 

“I just don’t want to hang out in the living room where my dad can see us and ask weird questions.” 

“Absolute mood. The first time CR and I hung out, my mom asked me to only keep the door open if we could keep it PG.”

Cynthia-Rose snorted. “It stayed closed that night.”

“Oh my fucking God, no it didn’t,” Denise said, exasperated.“I _tried_ to close it, but she was _terrified_ of my mother.” She finished, pointing her thumb at Cynthia-Rose.

“You’re killing my rep, babe.” Cynthia-Rose glowered, and Stacie laughed at her friend’s embarrassment.

“You do that yourself.” Denise said, patting Cynthia-Rose’ hand. The other girl rolled her eyes, but allowed Denise to interlace their fingers. 

* * *

Beca’s hangout (“date” as Stacie would say) with Chloe actually went really well, to the brunette’s surprise. When Chloe had asked if they could hangout, _alone_ , Beca internally freaked out, but she knew she had to put herself out there, even if it was risky. 

_“So all of this stuff is yours?” Chloe had asked, her eyes wide as they scanned the sound equipment on Beca’s desk._

_Beca shuffled awkwardly at the door to her room, nodding. “Yeah.”_

_“This must have cost a fortune.”_

_“Um, I got a lot of it as gifts over a few birthdays and Christmases, so it wasn’t a huge dent to my savings.”_

_Chloe nodded, reaching out to barely ghost over the MIDI Keyboard and various sound panels. “So this is how you make your mixes?”_

_“Yeah, sometimes I can get away with just using my mouse and laptop, but a lot of the time it takes this stuff to make it sound right.”_

_“I’ve listened to your stuff on Soundcloud, it’s amazing. I just didn’t know it took all of this.”_

_Beca’s heart soared at the awe in Chloe’s voice. She had put her music out there in freshman year because Stacie had wanted to listen, but she didn’t expect so many views from other people. Once the link to her page went up on her Instagram, it was impossible for Beca to not get a message at least once a week asking about it._

**_Of course_ ** _she knew that Chloe was one of her listeners. She basically obsessed over the fact that Chloe had followed her for a week after the revelation. It took Stacie talking her down to stop her from freaking about her mashup of Chloe by Emblem3 and Nobody Compares by One Direction and the chance of Chloe seeing it._

 _Stacie also had to talk her down when Chloe actually_ **_commented_ ** _on said mashup, because Beca thought she was going to have a heart attack and die._

_Beca thought it was a better time than any to finally tell Chloe that mashup was about her, but she also didn’t want to sound creepy._

_“Yeah, it’s sort of complicated, but it gets easier, like most stuff, with practice.”_

_“Where do you even start?”_

_Beca swallowed, because, yeah, it was_ ** _definitely_** _the time to tell Chloe. “Sometimes I’ll be listening to a song and just start singing another song along to it. Or sometimes, I wanna tell a story by using two songs that mean a lot to me.”_

_“I always wondered if your mashups were personal. I wanted to know more about you, and I thought maybe your music was a good place to start.” Chloe said earnestly, and Beca blushed at her honesty._

_“Yeah, um… This is so stupid, but I actually made a mashup with you in mind, and then you followed me and you commented on it, and I didn’t want you to know, but I thought you might have found out how I felt because of it, and I was_ **_so_ ** _scared, and nervous…”_

_Chloe’s expression faded into one of surprise, but quickly morphed into adoration. “Oh, Beca, there was no need to be scared.” She put her hand on top of Beca’s, and squeezed. “And it’s not stupid. Music has always been a huge part of my life, of course I understand using it to express how you feel.”_

_Beca nodded, still unable to meet Chloe’s eyes. “It’s just always been hard for me to, like, say how I feel, I guess? Music was always there to say whatever I needed to say.”_

_Chloe smiled at her and squeezed her hand again, and Beca knew that with Chloe, there was no way to keep all the gross, mushy stuff inside of her. “The Chloe mashup was about you. In hindsight it’s sort of really, really obvious since you’re the only Chloe at our school, but yeah.”_

_Chloe blushed just a little bit, and Beca was so relieved to see how the information affected the redhead. Beca was used to being the blushing mess, but seeing Chloe flush from her words was an achievement of its own. “I think I really wanted it to be about me, but I obviously couldn’t ask that, because, hello, how vain would that be?” Chloe laughed, bumping her shoulder against Beca’s. Beca’s mouth was agape, however, because Chloe basically just admitted to having felt the same since_ **_freshman year_** _._

_“You wanted it to be about you?”_

_“Beca, you were so adorable! You, Stacie, and CR would do the silliest things and you didn’t even care, it was so cute.”_

_“But you never talked to me.”_

_Chloe rolled her eyes. “Well, yeah, but that’s because you basically had a ‘Keep Out’ sign stapled onto your back. I was worried you’d think I was annoying for invading your little bubble.”_

_“No way, dude, my brain short-circuited whenever you were around, in the best way.”_

_That caused Chloe to giggle, and Beca couldn’t think of a single song she had heard that rivaled that sound._

_Then Chloe kissed her._

_Beca had never kissed anyone before, so she wasn't exactly sure what to do. She tried to close her eyes, but the redhead pulled away pretty quickly, smiling brightly. “I hope that was okay.”_

_Beca dumbly nodded, “Yeah, it was. Really okay.”_

_“Awesome. You wanna watch that movie I brought?”_

_Beca isn’t really sure what had just happened, so she nods again and moves to her DVD player._

And that’s what brought Beca to her current predicament.

“She kept kissing me. _On the mouth!_ ”

Beca was pacing around her bedroom as Stacie watched from her bed. Ashley, sitting at Beca’s desk with an open textbook, raised an eyebrow. “What the Hell?”

“So, we hung out, right? She invited herself over to watch a movie-”

“You hate movies.”

Beca sent a look towards Stacie. “Yeah, I _know_ , but Chloe loves movies so I love movies, okay?”

“Didn’t you tell Jesse that he could shove his entire _Star Wars_ DVD collection up his ass when he asked you out?”

“Yes, because he is a _man_. _Chloe_ is a beautiful _angel_ sent from Heaven to rescue me from that shitty school. But this was before we even watched the movie! We just talked about my music, and then our feelings, and then she kissed me! Then, we watched the shitty movie, and she kissed me during it when I asked some stupid question about it, and then she just did it again after the movie was over!”

Ashley snorted, barely missing the pencil that Beca threw her way. Ashley held her hands up in defense. “Okay, so, you went on a date and she kissed you? What’s the problem?”

“Because I don’t even think it was a date! Or - it was, because she said she liked me, in a lot of words, but she didn’t say anything after the kiss or date or whatever. I thought there was supposed to be some talk about ‘defining the relationship’ and shit.”

“Yeah, if you’re like thirteen and need reassurance every step of the way. Chloe knows what she’s doing.”

Beca grimaced at that, looking down at her notebook. “I’ve never done this before. I just… I need that reassurance. Is that bad?” She looked towards Stacie, who shook her head.

“No, of course not. Maybe she just thought you were on the same page.”

“Well, I kissed her back, so I guess we kind of are?”

Ashley sat up straighter, pushing her book away. “Just ask her, Beca. I know you want to avoid the confrontation, but you have to say something.”

Beca shrugged. “I’m just nervous. I mean, she kissed me like four times, so she must _like_ me, but what if she doesn’t want something serious?”

“Then you decide if you could handle something casual.” Stacie replied while scrolling through a Powerpoint. “If not, you figure it out or let her go. Easy.”

“No, not ‘easy’, I can’t just let her go!”

“But you also can’t force yourself to do stuff with her that you don’t want to do. Kissing her is probably awesome, but you want the dates and sappy shit too.”

“Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, yeah, I want the sappy shit. She talked about having feelings for me since freshman year.”

“So you’ve wasted two years for nothing?” Ashley asked, and Beca threw her entire notebook at her this time. 

“I was definitely not ready to date her back then, anyway.”

Stacie shrugged. “If she said all that stuff, then she definitely thought it was a date. You’re just overthinking it.”

“How am I not supposed to overthink this? It’s Chloe!”

Stacie rolled her eyes. “When are you hanging out next?”

“Friday.” 

“Ask her then. If it doesn’t go well, you can leave.” Stacie said, making it sound extremely simple (which it was, Beca was just sort of an idiot).

Beca nodded. “Okay, yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”

Ashley smirked. “Five bucks she chickens out.” Beca scoffs.

“Dude! I thought we were supposed to be friends.” 

“Yeah, but if we don’t wager, you won’t do it. You’re too petty to let me win this.”

Stacie laughed. “Do I actually get five bucks out of this?”

“No, but you’ll be relieved from the five bucks you owe _me_ ,” Ashley responded, causing Stacie to furrow her eyebrows.

“The Hell? When did I owe you anything?”

“From our last bet on our oblivious friends’ feelings.” 

Stacie rolled her eyes. “To be fair, how was I supposed to know that Denise would make the first move?”

Beca spoke up, shaking her head at Stacie. “CR talks a big game, but you know she has no game at all.” 

“You can’t talk, Beca.” 

“When have I _ever_ claimed to have game?”

Stacie smirked, and Beca knew she made a mistake. “Ninth grade homecoming. You tried to ask Kimmy-Jin and she shut you down _so_ hard.” 

“I thought she was playing all hard to get and shit when she rolled her eyes at me.”

Ashley snorted. “Why would you ever think that?”

“Yeah, were you getting your advice from Jesse?”

Beca groaned, covering her eyes with her hands. “Everyone makes stupid mistakes in freshman year. Stacie literally asked Aubrey if she was from Tennessee.”

“Don’t remind me. She went on a three minute rant about accents and assuming things about people you don’t know. I never even got to finish the line.”

“Better late than never!” Ashley said cheekily in response, but regretted it when Stacie actually took out her phone and began to send the ending of the pick-up line to Aubrey. “The Hell?” 

“You said it yourself, better late than never.”

“Whatever, can we just get back to Beca’s problem?”

Beca shook her head, getting up to grab her notebook from next to Ashley. “Nah, it’s all good. I’m just gonna ask her. I seriously need to get back to these history notes, or I’ll never finish them.” 

“Oh, Beca, you’ve grown up right in front of us! Confronting your feelings, doing notes! What’s next, eating with your family at the dinner table?” Stacie sighed, wrapping her arm around Beca’s shoulder while Ashley laughed.

“I’m gonna hit you.” Beca glowered.

The three went back to studying until Stacie heard her phone vibrate.

"Oh, hey, Aubrey texted back! She said, um... Never mind, she didn't say anything."

Ashley barked out a laugh. "No way, what did she say?"

Stacie groaned. "She said, 'Are you from Finland, because this relationship is finished' and then sent 'JK by the way' afterwards."

Ashley and Beca laughed, and the latter said, "Wow, that was lame."

"Shut up, it was good!"

"No it wasn't. Check the read receipt, how long did it take her to come with that?" Ashley asked. 

Stacie said nothing.

"Come on, how long-"

"Ten minutes."

The other two burst into laughter again, and Stacie threw her phone at them. 

* * *

Stacie and Aubrey were sitting together in the library during third period study hall. Stacie was super excited when Aubrey informed her that they had this period together, but that joy dissipated when Aubrey made it clear they were to only do work. Stacie thought there were better things they could be doing, but Aubrey was not willing to sacrifice her grades for some alone time with the brunette. 

Stacie had been tapping her pencil against her textbook at even intervals for the last four minutes. The blonde was clearly trying to ignore it, but she could not get her work done in this environment. “Anastasia,” she began, waiting for the brunette to look up at her. “I’m definitely enjoying sitting here with you, but that pencil is going to drive me insane.”

Stacie looked down, finally realizing what she was doing. “Oh, damn, I’m sorry. I just can’t concentrate, I guess.”

“Is there something wrong?”

Stacie quirked her mouth to the side, her eyes unable to meet Aubrey’s. “Am I allowed to ask why you call me Anastasia?”

Aubrey chuckled a little. “It’s a free country.” Stacie looked at her expectantly, and she shrugged. “My friends call me Bree.”

“Uh, okay. Should I be doing that?”

“No,” Aubrey shook her head. “My friends call me Bree, but my father calls me Aubrey. My mom does, too, but it’s always been so… harsh.” She puts her hands on her hip, lowering her eyebrows. “‘Aubrey, two APs are not going to get you into college. Aubrey, your brother called from Yale. Aubrey, no one wants to see you sing into your hairbrush.’”

Stacie couldn’t help but snort at that one, because she could sort of picture the usually composed blonde letting go and singing pop songs in her mirror. However, she saw the glare Aubrey sent her way and composed herself. 

“You said my name once in freshman year, so offhandedly and so nicely, that every bad thought I had about it vanished, just for a little bit.”

Stacie brows knitted together. “Hold on, have you liked me since _freshman year_?”

“ _S_ _o_ not the point. I just figured if you could make me like my name, I could make you like yours.”

“I like Anastasia. It’s just a mouthful.”

“It’s so pretty, though.”

Stacie blushed. “Just seemed weird you weren’t respecting my preferred name.”

“I would have stopped if it actually bothered you, but you know it didn’t.” Aubrey smiled coyly, and Stacie had to roll her eyes. 

“I still think you should have asked. The GSA would _not_ be happy with you.” Stacie tried to be firm, but her smile gave her away. 

“I didn’t even think of it that way.” Aubrey actually sort of seemed bothered, now, so Stacie covered the blonde’s hand with her own. 

“Hey, it’s chill. I know you wouldn’t have done it if it really mattered.” Aubrey looked up at her, still slightly embarrassed, but sending Stacie a grateful smile. “You’re right, I do like it when you call me Anastasia. Makes me feel like royalty or something, you know?”

Aubrey cocked an eyebrow. “Royalty?”

Stacie grinned a little, and Aubrey thought it was absolutely adorable. “Yeah.” 

They sat smiling at each other for just a little while longer, until Stacie spoke up again, pulling her hand away, clasping her fingers together, and leaning forward. “So… Since freshman year, huh?” Aubrey nodded, and Stacie’s grin grew. “You know, Chloe said the same thing to Beca.”

“We didn’t talk about it often, because we both knew how silly it was to have crushes on girls we barely knew.”

Stacie actually looked surprised at that. “Wait, this was something you _knew_ and _acknowledged_?” 

“Teenage girls gossip, Anastasia.” 

“Yeah, but Beca and I pined after you two for _two years_!”

“And now everything is out in the open, I don’t see your point.”

Stacie finally understood what Ashley meant when she said ‘so you wasted two years for nothing’, because it _definitely_ felt like Stacie had just been wasting the last two years. 

“I kind of had an inkling, anyway.”

“What?”

Aubrey rolled her eyes, pushing Stacie’s shoulder a bit. “What, you think you haven’t been obvious? What was I supposed to think when you were constantly throwing me those _looks_.” 

“Oh come on, I was subtle!” Stacie laughed, causing Aubrey to shake her head. 

“Every now and then, this random, _beautiful_ girl would say something that had my head spinning, or look at me like I was… Like I was somebody to her, even though I didn’t really know her.” Aubrey’s voice got softer at the end, as did her smile. It felt like a really nice moment, and Stacie had never valued their alone time more than she did now. 

The brunette shrugged, matching the soft smile. “You were someone to me. I just tried to hide as best as I could.” 

Aubrey’s smile turned into a look of disbelief, and she scoffed. “You sang to me at Semi-Formal!”

“It was one line!”

“Yes, but it was clearly handpicked.” 

Stacie blushed. “I wanted to tell you how I felt without feeling like a stalker while doing it. I mean, I didn’t think about you _all_ the time, just… an appropriately high amount.” 

Aubrey placed a hand on Stacie’s own. “It’s alright. I thought about you a lot, too, even if I shouldn’t have.” 

Stacie sent her a confused look. “Why couldn’t you?” she asked, causing the blonde to shake her head. 

“Because you were always off causing trouble, and I was supposed to be caring about things like class elections and AP scores.” 

Stacie didn’t really like to think about the fact that Aubrey let all that keep them apart, but it was too late to change that. “How about now?”

“Now,” Aubrey started, leaning across the table and interlacing their fingers. “I know that I can care about both.”

That got Stacie to forget about her doubts and her worries, because Aubrey _cared_ about her. And she cared about Aubrey. They’ve got two years before the real world comes creeping in, they’ve got proms and classes and summers left, and Stacie doesn’t regret the pining or the days she spent wishing things were different.

Because things were different _now_. 

“Hey,” Aubrey called Stacie out of her own thoughts. “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?” 

Stacie grinned and shook her head. “I’m just thinking about how siked fourteen year old Stacie would be right now if she heard all of this.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. “Fourteen year old Aubrey would be having an aneurysm if she knew you were keeping her from studying.”

“I think I’m a little more interesting than your textbook.”

Aubrey pulled her hand away from Stacie’s, grasping the sides of her textbook. “Oh I’m not denying that, but I’ve got a French test tomorrow and I’m not letting you distract me any more than you already have.”

“Whatever you say, _mademoiselle._ ” Stacie smiled cheekily.

“Do you think you’re funny?”

“I think I’m hilarious.” 

“And I think you should _also_ be studying.” Aubrey responded, cocking an eyebrow and looking down at Stacie’s textbook, where she was clearly only one page into the newest chapter.

Stacie groaned, dropping her head into the textbook. 

“You’re not going to be able to read it like that.” Aubrey admonished, shaking her head at the brunette.

“Watch me,” Stacie mumbled into the page, turning her head and squinting. 

“Uh huh.” Aubrey clearly didn’t sound convinced. 

“It’s working.” Stacie mumbled, and Aubrey couldn’t help the laugh that came out. 

“I’m sure it is, baby.” Aubrey definitely did not mean to let that slip, but calling her sort-of-almost-girlfriend ‘baby’ just seemed to fit the situation.

Stacie grinned into her textbook, but said nothing. She knew she wasn’t going to get any studying done now with that on her mind.


End file.
